Welcome to Accessible Signage Now

Mission Statement
Become a member -- Send a Letter
Make a donation to Accessible Signage Now
Why Accessible Signage?
How can signage be made accessible?
Why is RIAS not being used everywhere?
Other Accessible Signage Links

Our Mission

Accessible Signage Now is a grass roots organization of blind, visually impaired, and enlightened sighted people dedicated to the promotion of accessible signage in all public places, and in public transportation in particular. Find out more about our organization and its membership.

Become a Member of Accessible Signage Now

You can become a member of Accessible Signage Now by sending a letter to one of our targeted transit agencies informing them of your support for accessible signage. Sending the letter is free, quick and easy. You just fill out a form and we do the rest. In the process, you provide your contact information. This serves two purposes:

so that we can let the transportation agency know who it is that cares enough about accessible signage to send them a snail-mail letter, and
so that we can keep you informed about other important issues related to accessible signage and public transportation with occasional brief e-mails.

Don't worry: there won't be any spam, and we will respect your privacy.

Make a Donation

Letters to transit agencies, web services, and community outreach all cost money. You can help support our efforts by becoming an Accessible Signage Now contributor. Your generosity will help us realize our shared dream of accessible signage in our time.

Why Accessible Signage?

Signs are the keys to our civilization. Without access to them, blind and visually impaired people are often forced to depend on the unreliable kindness of sighted strangers to manage even the most basic of trips using public transportation. Signage in the environment addresses basic information critical to the usability of a transit system, and sighted travelers have immediate access to that information simply by glancing around. For example, signage addresses such fundamental questions as:

"Is this bus still running?"
"What street do these stairs lead to?"
"Is this my bus/train?"
"Which way are the stairs to my platform?"
"Where is the elevator?"
"What stop is this?"
"Where is the ticket machine?"

Without this kind of basic information, significant barriers remain to the independent use of public transportation.

How can signage be made accessible?

Accessible Signage Now promotes the use of Remote Infrared Audible Signage (RIAS) to make signage accessible to blind and visually impaired travelers. The technology is proven to be easy to learn and use, and is effective in all situations. It has a solid track record and many scientific studies have shown it to be an excellent tool for providing access to a wide array of signage types.

Why is RIAS not being used everywhere?

RIAS is not more widely used because:

It is more expensive than Braille signage, and
It is not required by the ADA or other similar legislation.

Nevertheless, RIAS is far more effective than tactile signage for many reasons, the most significant being that you have to know where a tactile sign is before it can be of any use. RIAS allows the user to find and read signs at a distance, thus eliminating the need to feel around on dirty walls for possible Braille signs. Other significant drawbacks to tactile signage include:

finding tactile signs is time-consuming and distasteful
by the time one finds the tactile sign, the item it identifies has usually been found as well
many visually impaired people cannot read Braille, or even raised print
reading a tactile sign mounted on a vertical surface such as a wall is ergonomically quite difficult